Moment of Truth
by Cybra
Summary: The final battle with Voldemort, and it can have one of two different outcomes. Completed!
1. The Duel

Moment of Truth

By Cybra

**A/N:**  The ending of this part leaves you guessing, but let me assure you that this _will_ be completed.  In fact, it will have two endings – each a result of the double vision Trelawney had in "Visions of the Future."  Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**  The world of Harry Potter belongs to the great J.K. Rowling.  Bow before her greatness, Potter fans!

The Duel 

Gazing out over the enemy troops and comparing them to the troops he fought with, Harry Potter knew that his side's lives could and would become a living hell in a matter of moments.  He idly reached up with a finger to stroke Hedwig's breast feathers as she sat on his shoulder.

His constant companion during this nightmare, Hedwig had stayed by his side when most other people would have wished to stay as far away from him as possible and had even done her share of work in this war.  Both she and Fawkes had flown ahead of their army, Harry and Professor Albus Dumbledore using a spell to look through a pair of gems hung by light chains around their necks to judge the enemy forces.  But that wasn't important to him for she provided him with stability that he desperately needed in the midst of the insanity of this, the war against Voldemort in his seventh year at Hogwarts.

"Where is he?" the Boy Who Lived murmured, emerald eyes scanning amongst the Deatheaters, giants, and other assorted horrors. "He's always – ah.  There he is."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he gazed upon the form of his parents' murderer: Lord Voldemort, once known as Tom Riddle when the dark wizard had been a student at Hogwarts.  Not surprisingly, Voldemort had used vast amounts of power in order to improve his looks.  Though he now looked handsome with his tall frame and black hair, not even this makeover could hide the malevolence in the red eyes Harry remembered from fourth year.

The green-eyed wizard gave a derisive snort as he noticed the black owl resting on Voldemort's shoulder.  "I figured he would have picked out a vulture.  It'd suit him better.  What do you think, Hedwig?"

He smiled grimly as Hedwig fluffed her feathers, chirped, and clacked her beak in agreement.

Straightening his posture, Harry took a deep breath.  "Let's do it, Hedwig.  We've only got one shot at this.  Hope I don't blow it."

He walked purposely away from his position in the second wave and toward the front line.  He ignored shouts of "Harry!" and "Where the heck do you think you're going?!" as he continued on his way.  He walked right past Dumbledore, his jaw set in a hard line.  The old man moved as if to stop him, but he threw the professor a look that staid the older wizard's objections.

He slipped past Draco Malfoy who stood on the front line.  He vaguely remembered being surprised when Malfoy expressed a strong desire to not fight at his own father's side, but Harry quickly pushed away the memory.

He paused when Malfoy seized his arm.

"Where in Merlin's name do you think you're going?!" the Slytherin student demanded.

"Let me go, Malfoy."

"Not a chance."

Hedwig leaned forward and snapped her beak in the blond's face, making him back up and release Harry.  The glasses-wearing boy continued on as Hedwig settled herself.

He walked into the vast open space between the two armies.  The entire enemy army seemed to focus on him.  Perhaps some of the Deatheaters were planning on attacking him during this moment of vulnerability, thinking to earn their master's respect by killing Voldemort's hated foe.

However Harry knew that Voldemort would be furious if anyone killed him.  The Dark Lord wanted that pleasure for himself.  And Harry had no intention of letting Voldemort kill him without a fight.

Clearing his throat, Harry shouted out, "Tom Riddle!  I want to speak to you!"

The Boy Who Lived smirked inwardly as Voldemort seemed to want to blast him where he stood for such impudence.  The Dark Lord hated his real name and hated being addressed by it even more.

"Do not call me by that name!" Voldemort snarled.

Ignoring Voldemort's response, Harry continued, "I'm sure you wouldn't want me killed by one of your men in the chaos of battle!  After all, it wouldn't give you the opportunity to exact any sort of revenge on me, would it?"

His half-taunting voice had the desired effect: further infuriating the Dark Lord.  If he was lucky, Voldemort would be so steamed by the end that he'd agree to what Harry wanted.

"I mean, I've gotten away from you how many times?  Six?  No!  Seven!  I forgot about when I was a baby!"

By this point, the dark wizard seemed ready to snap his own wand in half in his fury.  Enjoying the situation with a strange sort of malicious glee, Harry allowed the smirk he'd been holding back to cross his lips.  The smirk further angered Voldemort.

"And I could currently blow you to pieces where you stand!" Voldemort shouted.

"But you won't!  After all, it'd be too fast!  You can't torture a dead body, no matter how many pieces it's in!"

The leader of the enemy army roared, **"What do you want?!"**

Smirking a bit more widely now, Harry answered, "I want a duel, Voldemort!  Consider it a rematch for the Triwizard Tournament!"  As Voldemort stared at him as if he were mad, he held up a finger.  "But I only want a duel on the condition that you swear_ on your own wand_ that your army will _not_ move until _after_ it's completed!"

He waited as Voldemort considered his offer.  "And what about your side?"

Harry pulled out his wand and presented it where Voldemort could see.  Boldly, he stated, "I swear on my wand that if Voldemort agrees to this duel, my side will not attack until after the duel has ended."

The wand glowed as he spoke these words and for a few seconds afterwards.  This sealed his oath so that if his side broke that oath, the wand itself would punish him.

"Now what about you?" the Boy Who Lived asked. "Are you afraid to face me, Tom Riddle?"

The Dark Lord growled at the use of his real name, then smirked.  "You're a fool to challenge me, Harry Potter, but if you truly wish to die, I'll make sure your death is as painful as possible!"  He presented his wand just as Harry had done.  "I swear on my wand that my side will not attack until after the duel has ended."

Just like Harry's wand, Voldemort's wand glowed as he spoke and for a few seconds afterwards.

Harry stretched out his arm as Hedwig walked down it and launched her into the air as Voldemort did the same with his owl.  Neither wizard's eyes left his opponent as the two owls flew high into the sky and prepared themselves for their own fight.

"Prepare to die, Potter."

@~^~~

Hedwig zoomed left as her opponent attempted to dive and latch onto her body with his talons.  Wicked talons missed her by a feather filament's breadth.  She banked harder to the left and angled her wings to aim herself upward towards the clouds.

The faithful owl had caught glimpses of her human's own fight from above.  Like the two owls in the air, neither wizard had a real advantage over the other at this point.  They continued to test each other, searching for a weakness to exploit.  So far, no feebleness in either wizard or owl's attacks or defenses had shown itself.

Though not really high enough to gain enough speed for a head-on strike to be fatal, she dove, angling her body to meet the currently rising black owl.  She stretched her talons as her opponent worked his wings to angle away from her sudden attack.  Her talons raked across his back, leaving bloody gashes and splashing some of the black owl's sanguine blood onto her snowy feathers.  The black owl screeched in pain and fury, a sound echoed by the pain-filled and furious scream of the owl's master.

She had no time to relish her hit as the black owl moved to attack her again and the fight continued.

@~^~~

Harry dodged right as Voldemort fired what looked like a lightning bolt from the end of his wand at him.  Obviously, Voldemort hadn't enjoyed his combination of a close-range application of Lumnos to temporarily blind him followed swiftly by a simple fire spell to ignite his robes.  That had earned him an infinitesimal reprieve as the dark wizard had to pause in his attacks in order to cancel the spell.  He'd been preparing a more dangerous attack when the Dark Lord had begun his attacks anew.

The only words exchanged now were the called-out spells.  Neither wasted their breath and energy on something as meaningless as taunts.

Despite his determination to hold back until Voldemort tired, Harry felt his own energy reserves emptying.  He had to end this.  It was now or never.

@~^~~

Hedwig felt her energy reserves drain.  The enraged black owl attempt to strike her as she aborted a dive that could possibly have been fatal if she had had enough speed.  Time was running out.

Soaring back up into the sky, she eyed her foe.  She had to end this.  It was now or never.

@~^~~

The attack spell he'd been preparing a moment earlier had nearly been complete and the energy he'd built up for it hadn't started to dissipate yet.  He knew exactly what he wanted to use against the dark wizard: the same spell that killed his parents.

He stopped dodging and planted his feet as Voldemort prepared to fire his own spell.

Harry never heard the spell Voldemort used, his voice covering up the dark wizard's words.  _"Avada Kedaver!"_

@~^~~

The enemy owl had copied her maneuver and mimicked her dive.  She stretched her talons at the same time as her opponent.  The pair would meet head-on, and whoever's talons struck home first would be the victor.

@~^~~

A green beam of light shot forth from Harry's wand as a red beam flew from the tip of Voldemort's.  Whoever's spell hit first would be the victor.

The moment of truth had come.


	2. Pyrrhic Victory

Moment of Truth

By Cybra

**A/N:**  The first of the two endings.  Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**  Sorry to shatter all your delusions, but I do _not_ own Harry Potter.  The honor is reserved for the talented J.K. Rowling.

Pyrrhic Victory 

Spells and talons collided with their intended targets.  A pair of owls, locked together by their talons, fell to the ground, hitting with a _thud.  A pair of wizards collapsed to the ground._

"Harry!" Ron Weasley shouted, racing toward his fallen friend.

Professor Severus Snape ordered, "Weasley, get back here!"

Hesitating, Ron flicked his eyes from Snape to Harry Potter's limp body.  Slowly, unwillingly, he returned to his position.

He looked over at Professor Minerva McGonagall who in turn turned to Professor Albus Dumbledore.  "Albus?"

"Wait," the wizened wizard ordered, his voice soft.

Neither side moved, hoping that the duelist they had supported would rise.  The Dark Lord's forces fidgeted uncertainly.  Because of his abilities at chess, Ron could easily see what the problem was.  Voldemort was the strongest of their number and the only one who could match Dumbledore's power.  If Voldemort did not rise, Dumbledore's forces would crush them, no matter how few his forces were.

Neither wizard rose from his place on the ground.

Ron looked to Dumbledore for the signal to attack.  They would have to strike now while the other side was in shock in order to gain further advantage.  But their forces were in shock, too.  Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, his and Hermione Granger's best friend, had just died.

Hermione sniffled beside him, and Ron instinctively reached out to rub her shoulder.  What he wanted to do was take her in his arms so they could cry out their loss together, but at the moment, the oncoming battle was too important.

Memories of good times spent with Harry mixed in with those less than pleasant times in Ron's mind.  The times they fought had always stung, though he'd always tried to make it seem like he didn't care.  When they made up afterwards and returned to normal, it always made Ron feel like all was right with the world.  And the days when they simply hung around the castle with Hermione, supposedly doing their assignments, had been bliss.

Now those days were over.

"Harry…" Hermione whimpered from beside him.

As Ron reached out to take her in his arms, Dumbledore's signal caught the corner of his eye.  Hermione must've seen it, too, because she suddenly took a deep breath and began to advance with the rest of their army.  He noticed the troops part around Harry's body so it wouldn't get trampled, but no one took such care with Voldemort's corpse.

The final battle had begun.

@~^~~

The battle was relatively short compared to most other battles.  Though it felt like an eternity to Hermione, the battle ended within an hour of its beginning.  Without their leader and most powerful wizard Voldemort, the dark forces were crushed relatively easily.

Those Deatheaters taken prisoner would be carted off to Azkaban prison, though what Dumbledore's forces would do with the other dark creatures was anybody's guess.  The Dementors would have to be kept somewhere where there was no one to feed off of.  Giants were hard to contain due to their size and strength.  No one knew what to do with even half of the remaining dark creatures.

Hermione slowly walked beside Ron, both of their faces pale in anticipation to what they would see.

Harry's lifeless body lay where it had fallen, untouched by friend or foe.  The body of his opponent lay several feet away, trampled and nearly unrecognizable.

The Muggle-born witch collapsed to her knees beside her fallen friend, weeping.  She felt more than saw Ron kneel beside her, his arm wrapping protectively around her.  She leaned into his embrace, burying her face in his shoulder.

Turning her head to gaze at the body through tear-blurred eyes, she looked at the friend who had cheated death so many times.  Some irrational part of her thought that the Boy Who Lived would live forever.

"How could he have survived Voldemort so many times…beat him…and still die?" she sobbed, turning back to Ron's shoulder for comfort.

Tears fell onto the back of her head, and she knew that Ron was crying as well.

How could Harry leave them now after they'd been through so much together?

Her grief temporarily switched to the anger stage as she beat a fist weakly against Ron's chest and she wailed, "Damn you, Harry Potter!  Why the hell did you let yourself get killed?!"

She felt Ron rock her back and forth as she vented her anger and her sorrow.

@~^~~

Dumbledore looked down at the two owl bodies locked together in death.  How fitting that Harry's owl Hedwig should die just as he had: fighting.  And it perfectly symbolized the relationship that Harry and Voldemort had.

He remembered his own words from not too many years ago:

"When one dies, the other will die as well."

He had never hated being right so much as right now.

Vaguely, he heard the swish of feathers as Fawkes came to land beside him and the cries of joy and sorrow from the wizards, creatures who had joined their side, and even a few Muggles.  The war had ended for real this time; Voldemort would not be coming back.  However, their victory had come at great cost.

Hermione's wail of anger and grief reached his ears: "Damn you, Harry Potter!  Why the hell did you let yourself get killed?!"

The old wizard closed his eyes, letting his own tears escape.  Every step of the way, he had led the boy to this final battle.  On some level, he had hoped that Professor Sibyll Trelawney's prediction had been wrong (as usual) and Harry would win and go on to live the normal life in obscurity that Harry had once told his friends that he wanted.  Unfortunately, Trelawney's prediction held true.

McGonagall's voice broke him from his reverie, saying what was on his mind.  "I had hoped that Sibyll would be wrong like she normally is…"

"Apparently Harry was not so lucky," the aged wizard told the Transfigurations professor.

"He…he hadn't even graduated…"  The witch swallowed.  "He was supposed to graduate next month…with the others…"

Pulled into the war before graduation, Harry and his classmates hadn't even been completely trained before heading out into the field.  Dumbledore swallowed.  Graduation this year would _not be the happy ceremony that it usually was._

McGonagall's quiet sobs pulled the headmaster from his thoughts.  He turned to her and wrapped her in an embrace.  She leaned into his comforting arms, crying into his shoulder.

The time for talking would come later, but now there was nothing to be said.


	3. Victory in Defeat

Moment of Truth

By Cybra

**A/N:**  This is the _other that Trelawney saw.  J  Yes, I am evil for making you wait this long.  Some things are changed from Trelawney's original prediction because…well…nobody can _perfectly_ foresee the future, can they?_

**Disclaimer:**  I don't know how Harry Potter will really end because – Surprise! – I am not J.K. Rowling.  Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter.

Victory in Defeat

The red beam struck its intended target a split second before the green beam could strike, giving Voldemort time to escape.  Harry Potter stumbled backwards, green eyes wide with agony and surprise.

He had lost.

His wand slipped free from his hand as the world faded from his vision.  The laughter of his enemy dissolved into nothing.

_'Damn you…'_

The agonized scream of his owl pushed its way into his dimming senses, and he stared towards the sky as he fell onto his back.  Hedwig – battered, bloody, but alive – swooped down and hovered in front of him.

_'Hedwig…'_

@~^~~

**"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.**

Ron trembled.  "We're dead.  We are so dead."

Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was defeated.  The one who was supposed to save them from the Dark Lord had just fallen.  Now who would save them?

Voldemort, Tom Riddle, Slytherin's Heir, laughed and lifted his hand into the air, signaling his side to attack.

Ron and Hermione immediately looked to Dumbledore who stood with his jaw clenched.  Their best hope had fallen, but their leader was still standing.  Their headmaster was, hopefully, still a match for the Dark Lord.

A tormented, raptorial scream echoed from on high as white plummeted from the sky and hovered above Harry's body.

"Hedwig?" Hermione asked, staring at the owl.

The loyal owl hovered above her master for several seconds as if confirming that Harry was dead.  Then she back-winged, aimed, swooped again, and grasped the dropped wand in her talons, launching herself into the air again.  Dodging the black owl, she disappeared into the darkening sky.

But Hedwig was quickly forgotten as the dark forces fell upon them, and the battle began.

@~^~~

On this field of despair, death was reaped every second.  Ron had managed to find Hagrid by chance after losing Hermione in the melee.  Forbidden from using his magic even in this battle, the half-giant used his crossbow as best as he could.

But no matter what weapon the side of good used, they were still losing.

Voldemort – though weakened from his fight with Harry – still had more than enough power to continue fighting.  Plus he managed to keep enough people between himself and Dumbledore, wearing down the older wizard.  If the pair had an encounter, no one could be sure anymore if Dumbledore could win.

"There he is!" Ron hissed to Hagrid.

Sure enough, Voldemort was busy directing troops to their right.  He hadn't seemed to have noticed them.  Either that or he had passed them off as a minor threat.

"Get 'im, Ron!"

"I _can't!  He'll block a magic attack in a second!" Ron's eyes widened in realization. "But he'll never expect a _crossbow bolt!"__

"Can't!  I'm…out?"  Hagrid had reached into his quiver to discover one last bolt.  "Strange.  I thought I just used my last one."

Ron blocked another wizard's attack as he ground out between gritted teeth.  "Just use it!  We've got a shot!"

Hagrid didn't argue, loading the crossbow, aiming, and firing.

As if sensing their thoughts, Voldemort whirled and fired a wind blast to blow the bolt off-target.  The evil wizard laughed at their pathetic attack.

His laugh died short-lived.  His red eyes widened in horror.

Almost like a hand had grabbed onto the bolt, the shot suddenly jerked itself back on course.  The sharp metal tip plunged itself into the soft flesh of Voldemort's chest.

Like an avenging angel, Hedwig dived from the sky and grasped the bolt with one taloned foot, staring the evil wizard in the eye.

And as Voldemort stared in terror at the snowy owl, Ron had to wonder what he saw.

@~^~~

Instead of golden raptorial eyes, bright green _human_ eyes glared into Voldemort's red ones.  In that instant, Voldemort realized he had made a mistake in letting the owl fly off.  As he had once used his servants as vessels to hold his spirit before he could obtain a body of his own, Potter had used his own owl to hold _his_ spirit.  And it seemed almost as if the owl had been as willing as Voldemort's own Deatheaters.

"Did you really think that I would just lie down and let you kill all of these people?" Potter's voice snapped from nowhere and everywhere. "I win."

Those green eyes glowed as the bolt began to warp and mutate into Potter's missing wand.

"No…!" the Dark Lord hissed.

The snowy owl's small form – unable to contain all of the power that the vengeful spirit was using but large enough to conduct that energy briefly – burned away, but the wand now had all of the raw power that the spirit needed.  It glowed with an otherworldly force as it awaited its master's command.

Voldemort reached for the wand, but it burned his touch.  He had no escape.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" the spirit of Harry Potter sneered. _"Avada Kedaver!"_

With the wand directly in the wizard's heart, there was no way the green light of the spell could miss.  The Dark Lord screamed in agony as his life was ripped forcefully away from his body.  The spell destroyed his every chance of returning again.

The screams of the Dark Lord echoed over the battle, causing the combatants to freeze and turn to look.  At the sight of their leader dying, the Deatheaters and all the dark creatures realized that their chances of winning the fight had just dropped to zero.  The spirits of those on the side of good were bolstered, and they fought with renewed vigor.

Ron and Hagrid paused to stare at each other in shock.

Harry Potter had snatched victory even in defeat.


End file.
